Jamie Baker, the PhD student extraordinaire, in a letter to the department head Dr. Jim O'Donnell stated in regard to a late assignment, "Assignment accepted for late credit as negotiated outside of syllabus expectation for no acceptance of late work". I turned in the first assignment late because I was at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, during the first week of the semester. I received a grade of 50% on this assignment...an F. I also received an F on the first "pedagogical notebook quick check". Ms. Baker arbitrarily picked students each week for this quick check. In other words, she did not have to pick me that first week but chose to do so and then marked me 50% off for being late. Her course syllabus does state, "LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED!".
Ms. Baker also deducted 30 points, per the syllabus, because I was absent three times.
In contrast, Lydia did not turn her video in on time. This was a large part of our grade. In this alone, per the syllabus, Lydia should have failed the course. In addition, the syllabus states, "We will begin on time. Being tardy disrupts the flow of the class. Two tardies will equal one absence. More than three absences means that you will fail this course". Lydia was absent three times and was late to class every single time, except when she presented her "sound byte". Per the syllabus Lydia should have failed the course.
Ms. Baker passed Lydia and flunked me.
